Q&A: Metallica’s Lars Ulrich and (Briefly) Lou Reed on Their New Collaboration, Lulu

I have a good job in that it’s pretty easy and, let’s face it, kind of cushy. I’m not frequently exposed to hazardous chemicals (unless there are some being offered at parties). I don’t have to lift heavy boxes off docks or slaughter animals. But, occasionally, I have to interview Lou Reed. It’s the trade-off.

I love Lou Reed. But Lou Reed hates most people like me. In fact, verbally sport-shooting at us may be the only reason Reed does any press at all. I don’t know. When I asked him why he bothers talking to journalists, he hung up on me.

Lars Ulrich, drummer for Metallica, enjoys talking to the press. And vice versa. In fact, he’s now possibly the most affable gent in rock (after spending the start of the century as the Napster-suing Bond villain). Lars just made a record with Reed and Hal Willner, which is why I spoke with the former two last week. The album is called Lulu. It began as a collaborative theater project with the avant-garde writer/director Robert Wilson (who previously worked with both Reed and his wife, Laurie Anderson, and, perhaps most famously, composer Philip Glass). It’s based on the “Lulu” plays of Frank Wedekind (who also wrote Spring Awakening). Lars has much to say about it. So does much of Metallica’s confused fan base. Lou has less. And I’m respectfully withholding my own opinion and calming my damaged psyche with the third Velvet Underground album.

__A Chat with Lars:

*Marc Spitz:*When did Lou Reed first come across your radar as a kid?__

*Lars Ulrich:*I grew up in a house that was very cultural. There was music and art and a lot of writing around. My dad spent a lot of time traveling in America in the 60s, and he would bring a lot of records home and have these people over . . . and they’d listen to Doors records or Hendrix. The Velvet Underground started showing up in that group of bands played around the house.

Is Lou heavier than he gets credit for? Has his reputation as a poet or a rock-’n’-roll personality distracted us from the fact that his records are frequently very heavy? I ask because when I first saw the two of you play, at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Concerts in 2009, it was strange at first, but if you think about it, it kind of makes sense.

I think it makes total sense. Lou’s saying now that he always heard or desired somebody who was able to go to wherever it is we go to [musically]. I’m sorry he had to wait 40 years for it to finally happen to the poor guy.

Lou is an imperious figure. Was he ever snappy at all with you during the recording sessions?

This is not a guy that minces words. He goes directly to the point; he says what’s on his mind, and we love him for that. Sometimes he’s very blunt and it’s almost like, “Whoa, gotcha!” We had three to four full fantastic rock days together in New York a couple of years ago [before the Hall of Fame concerts], so obviously we knew what we were getting in bed with. We became soul mates. We just bonded. I’m aware of his reputation, but he treats me with respect.

I think it’s different with other musicians than it is with journalists.

There were a couple of times where we’d do a take of a song, and I was knocking on the door and said, “Hey, should we do another take?” And he’d just look at me and go, “I’m not singing that ever again.” And I thought, O.K., Lou, I can’t argue with that. I like the bluntness of it.

A, uh, Chat with Lou:

Marc Spitz:Hey, Lou, can you hear me O.K.?[No answer.]

O.K., well, thanks for doing this.

[No answer.]

So I talked with Lars. He was telling me about his first exposure to your music. He heard his father’s Velvet Underground records and was drawn to them. Obviously Metallica have been around for a while—when were you first drawn to their music?

*Lou Reed:*I want to just talk about the record.

Are we not talking about the record right now?

I don’t want to go into a history lesson.

Do you want to justtalk about the making of the record?

I don’t want to talk about anything, really. I’ll talk about the making of the record. I don’t want to talk about the history of Metallica, thanks.

__It’s not the “history of Metallica.” I was just asking what attracted you to them.__We played at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame—

So, that was the first exposure to them?

That’s not what I said. What I said was I played with them at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame [concert], and I really liked it. And I thought we would do very good playing together some day.

What’s the “power” that you talk about when you talk about the power that’s in Metallica?

Rock-and-roll power.

“Rock-and-roll power.”

Hmmm.

How far along were you with the Lulu project before you decided that you wanted this particular power for your songs?

I did a version of it for Bob Wilson that went one way, and I thought it would be remarkable to do it with my metal brothers . . . It was done with electronics and cellos and strings—and then when we did it with Metallica, we sent them that and said, “Now what happens if you take a crack at it using this as a takeoff point?”

Why record it in their studio in San Francisco as opposed to yours?

Because I don’t have one like they have. Theirs is set up the way I would set it up if I could. That means all in a circle. Everybody can see everybody else—everything’s done live, and there’s leakage all over the place. The opposite way of New York recordings. It’s the way I like to record.

You can definitely hear that on the record.

You can certainly hear it on the record.

Does that setup lend itself to a lengthy song? You play until you all stop? You’ve done long songs before, but some of these go on for almost 20 minutes. Is that a product of playing in a circle?

It’s a product of doing whatever we want whenever we wanted however we wanted and not having a record-company person there.

The freedom they have and the freedom you have joining forces—

To say the least. Look, O.K.? Just to cut through so much of this formality—I could do anything I want. They could do anything they want. We chose to do this as a project we wanted to do. Something beautiful. Period. It’s not complicated.